Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis: a disease with similarities and links to cancer biology

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Disfunctions in the anthocyanin accumulation of Vitis vinifera L. varieties studied by a targeted resequencing approach

BACKGROUND: The pathway of anthocyanin biosynthesis, and its alterations leading to berry colour modification, are well known in grape skin. This variability could affect both quantity and quality of pigment accumulation. OBJECTIVE: The present work is focused on 15 grapevine cultivars selected to represent a high variability in the phenotypical colour traits in order to highlight new polymorphisms related to the flavonoid pathway. METHODS: Twenty-one genes involved in the biosynthetic pathway of anthocyanins were studied via targeted resequencing and were correlated with phenotypic data ( anthocyanin profiles and spectroscopy indices). RESULTS: Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and InDel (insertion/deletion) polymorphisms were detected. Out of 1751 polymorphic loci, 68% were SNPs and 32% were InDels (568). Cluster analysis and SPLS-DA were used to investigate the genetic relationships among the cultivars, confirming the large range of phenotypical variability. Statistically significant correlations were detected between accumulation of 3\u2019 anthocyanins and genetic polymorphisms in two structural genes and one transcription factor putatively involved in the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway. CONCLUSIONS: The understanding of the polymorphisms related to the anthocyanin accumulation could support future selection of new pink table grape varieties with increased appeal on the consumers

Phytosanitary rules for grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) propagation material introduction into EU for germplasm conservation and scientific purposes

Annex

Mental Health of those who care: how can epidemiology help address the burden of depression?

Depression is one of the most prevalent mental disorders with a high burden of disease, affecting one in fifteen adults (6%). Moreover, because the COVID-19 lockdown has highly impacted on mental health, in each strata of the population (from the most to the least vulnerable, also including health professionals), projections estimate that depression will become the leading cause of disease burden in 2030. COVID-19 increased the emotional burden on health professionals working at the forefront, including the one involved in the public health field. Furthermore, although the etiology of depression is still not well known, multiple risk factors have been associated with it. How do these several factors interact and have an impact on depression? How has the COVID-19 pandemic played a role on health professionals mental health or even on informal caregivers, especially considering that during the pandemic many healthcare activities have been postponed, further burdening them? The workshop Aims to reply to these still open questions by bringing together experts in public health, epidemiology, statistics, and quantitative social sciences with topic knowledge on depression. The workshop will be structured as follows: we will first set the scene with an introductory presentation. We will then deepen the theme by focusing on two different topics, each presented by two speakers. This will allow us to compare different perspectives and stimulate the final debate. Audience participation will be encouraged with live polls, quizzes or word clouds. The introductory presentation will move from a quick overview of the past, present and future of Public Mental Health. It will then focus on the stigma of psychiatric pathology and the impact of the pandemic on it. Finally, it will approach the theme of mental health among health professionals, residents and students taking cues from the SMS-ME project (Sicilian Medical Student MEntal Health). In the first contribution, we will present data from the Italian and European surveys among Public Health Residents deepening the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on their mental health. These two surveys were conducted respectively by the working groups on “Public Mental Health” from the medical residents Assembly of the Italian Society of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine and from the European Network of Medical Residents in Public Health (EuroNet MRPH). The second contribution aims at discussing the most recent evidence on how several lifestyle and socio-economic factors are associated with prevalent and incident depressive symptoms among the general population. A specific focus on the role of social support and informal caregiving will be discussed. Data presented will come from The Maastricht Study, a large population-based cohort study, and from evidence of the literature. Identifying risk factors of depression could guide preventive strategies with the final aim of reducing its high morbidity. We hope that the final debate will lead to a fruitful discussion on the data presented, also aimed at understanding how to inform policy makers about health and economic consequences of the high burden of depression

The Hepatitis C Virus Nonstructural Protein 2 (NS2): An Up-and-Coming Antiviral Drug Target

Infection with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) continues to be a major global health problem. To overcome the limitations of current therapies using interferon-α in combination with ribavirin, there is a need to develop drugs that specifically block viral proteins. Highly efficient protease and polymerase inhibitors are currently undergoing clinical testing and will become available in the next few years. However, with resistance mutations emerging quickly, additional enzymatic activities or functions of HCV have to be targeted by novel compounds. One candidate molecule is the nonstructural protein 2 (NS2), which contains a proteolytic activity that is essential for viral RNA replication. In addition, NS2 is crucial for the assembly of progeny virions and modulates various cellular processes that interfere with viral replication. This review describes the functions of NS2 in the life cycle of HCV and highlights potential antiviral strategies involving NS2

Stem starch reserves studied by on-solid reactions coupled with reflectance detections in water stressed grapevines

Wine grape is usually grown under water deficit conditions that could negatively impact plant reserves, including the organic carbon storage in perennial organs such as woody stems. Assessing the carbohydrate status in woody organs is therefore of interest as it can influence vegetative growth in the successive season. In this study, we aimed to apply an on-solid colour reaction (using Lugol's iodine solution) coupled with reflectance spectroscopy detection to assess the grapevine canes' starch accumulation in response to short drought periods. We used two Vitis vinifera cultivars ('Cabernet Sauvignon' and 'Syrah') that were subjected to three different water conditions (well-watered; early water stress; late water stress) during the growing season as case study. We sampled woody stem tissue during winter rest. The results showed that water stress reduced the starch storage in 'Syrah', especially when imposed late and recovery time was not enough for carbon restoration, while 'Cabernet Sauvignon' was not affected. The results showed that the sensitivity of the method used here is adequate to assess starch accumulation differences due to drought treatments in grapevine canes. Moreover, the analytical approach appears fast, low cost, and promising for future physiological and agronomical research applications

Output-only identification of rigid body motions of floating structures: a case study

In order to identify rigid body motions of floating offshore structures, output-only techniques are very useful for developing low-cost intermediate-scale experimental activities directly into the sea, instead of wave tanks. A crucial parameter, however, is the length of the response records used as input for the identification process, since short records may result in significant loss of accuracy, while long ones may be incompatible with the assumption of stationarity of the sea state. This work presents a sensitivity study conducted on a numerical model of a spar structure, identified by means of Enhanced Frequency Domain Decomposition method. An overview on the efficiency of the method is given for various lengths of response record, along with practical indications on the minimum values acceptable

On intermediate-scale open-sea experiments on floating offshore structures: Feasibility and application on a spar support for offshore wind turbines

Experimental investigation of floating structures represents the most direct way for achieving their dynamic identification and it is particularly valuable for relatively new concepts, such as floating supports for offshore wind turbines, in order to fully understand their dynamic behaviour. Traditional experimental campaigns on floating structures are carried out at small scale, in indoor laboratories, equipped with wave and wind generation facilities. This article presents the results of an open-sea experimental activity on a 1:30 scale model of the OC3-Hywind spar, in parked rotor conditions, carried out at the Natural Ocean Engineering Laboratory (NOEL) of Reggio Calabria (Italy). The aim of the experiment is two-fold. Firstly, it aims to assess the feasibility of low-cost, intermediate-scale, open-sea activities on offshore structures, which are proposed to substitute or complement the traditional indoor activities in ocean basins. Secondly, it provides useful experimental data on damping properties of spar support structures for offshore wind turbines, with respect to heave, roll and pitch degrees of freedom. It is proven that the proposed approach may overcome some limitations of traditional small-scale activities, namely high costs and small scale, and allows to enhance the fidelity of the experimental data currently available in literature for spar floating supports for offshore wind turbines